How to Listen to Him
Homily for Transfiguration Sunday Year A

In the transfiguration event, we are presented with a scene that appears to be an open transition from the Old covenant to the New. Moses and Elijah represent the old covenant – standing for the law and the prophets respectively. Jesus appears in the middle of these great men of the scriptures as a fulfillment of the covenant. The transfiguration brings to the fore the relationship between the Old and the New Testament. The presence of Moses and Elijah with Jesus shows us that the Old Testament and the New Testament are not opposed to each other. Rather, they complement each other in the fulfillment of the law and the prophets through Jesus Christ. We believe that the scripture or the Bible in its entirety is the revealed Word of God.

Furthermore, as a confirmation of who Jesus is, while in the presence of his disciples, and standing amidst the representation of the Old Testament (Moses and Elijah), God pointed at the face of the New Covenant (Jesus Christ) and asked us to ‘Listen to Him.’ A kind of a transfer of authority from the old to the new, not in opposition but in transition. The transfiguration fused together the law and the prophets into the new covenant – salvation through Jesus Christ.

The voice of God in today’s gospel commands us as christians to listen to His son. How does Jesus speak to us today and how do we listen to Him? There are various ways. As christians Christ speaks to us through the scriptures, through the Church and it’s teachings and through the traditions of the Church. Unfortunately, many Christians today see the Bible, the scriptures, the Word of God, as boring. Some of us cannot sustain a long-term interest in reading the bible. It is easier for some to finish a 100-page book in hours but they cannot sustain reading only a two-page chapter of the bible in a month.The question is why the lack of interest on the things of God? As Christians, we need to transfigure our image and ignite our interest for the things of the Divine so that we can hear Him and listen to Him.

Sadly too, many of us have ignored these channels through which Christ speaks to us. We fail to listen to him when we decide to pick and choose what to believe in the Scriptures and in the teachings of the Church. So many of us have allowed personal and societal ideologies to dictate what to believe about what the scriptures and the Church teach. It is sad that for some professed Christians social and political ideologies speak to us more than the Word of God. We prefer to listen to those loud societal voices while ignoring the gentle whispering voice of God. As Christians, the teachings of our faith should shape our moral, social and political ideologies, not the other way round. When we take the teachings of the Scripture and the Church together we will realize that they do not fit into just one narrow ideological view. Our faith is not a ‘party-line’ ideology. It supersedes all. We must be true followers of Christ who listen to him in its entirety. We cannot afford to remain pick-and-choose christians.